Abstract
Many competitive and elite athletes continue to train throughout their pregnancies and many visit or live at altitude. The purpose of this integrative review is to synthesize, analyze and critique published studies regarding the safety of serious recreational or elite athletes exercising at altitude while pregnant. Seven databases were searched, and 157 documents were located, which were screened for appropriateness and reduced to seven articles that met the criteria. The studies were analyzed based on maternal and fetal outcomes. Current recommendations for exercising at altitude were based on sedentary individuals who frequently did not have the expected physiological responses based on research on pregnancy and altitude. It is unknown whether competitive and elite athletes would have similar responses to exercise at altitude. More research on exercise at altitude on individuals with a variety of fitness levels is needed.
Highlights
MethodsThis exploratory, integrative review was conducted using the methodology described by Toronto and Remington [13]
The titles and abstracts were screened to determine if they met the inclusion criteria, and 55 references were removed
While many individuals are sedentary, it is unknown if these individuals would be apt to exercise at altitude and may not reflect individuals who seek out physical activity at altitude
Summary
This exploratory, integrative review was conducted using the methodology described by Toronto and Remington [13]. The key words included pregnant or pregnancy, altitude, exercise, or physical activity AND altitude AND exercise OR Physical activity). The inclusion criteria for the type of document included (1) English language, (2) published since 1980, (3) experimental, quasi-experimental or non-experimental design, (4) altitude was at or above 1000 m, (5). Participants were pregnant, and (5) moderate or vigorous exercise was performed. Studies were excluded if they were not conducted on humans or the emphasis was on other health conditions or chronic diseases. Backward searches, were conducted using Web of Science and reviewing the reference lists of the located articles.
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